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Atlas / NTSB / FTW88MA048

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event FTW88MA048

1988-01-18 HOUSTON, Texas, United States Airport · HOU Fatal 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

BFR TKOF, A PLT OF XA-KUT WAS BRIEFED THAT THE HOUSTON HOBBY (HOU) WX WAS IFR WITH '. . . INDEFINITE CEILING ZERO SKY OBSCURED VISIBILITY'S 1/16 OF A MILE AND FOG . . .' HE WAS ALSO ADZD IFR CONDS WERE FORECAST UNTIL 0900 CST, GRADUALLY IMPROVING TO MARGINAL VFR BY 1100 CST WITH 1000' BRKN, 5 MI VIS & FOG. THE FLT TKOF OFF AT 0900 CST. AT HOU, ARRIVAL WAS DELAYED DUE TO WX. THE CREW REQUESTED AN ILS APCH, WITH INTENTIONS OF DIVERTING IF A MISSED APCH WAS MADE. THE RVR WAS VARIABLE. AFTER BEING CLRD FOR AN ILS RWY 4 APCH, THE PLT WAS ADZD THE RVR HAD DROPPED TO 1400'. AFTER CHANGING TO TWR FREQ, THE FLT WAS CLRD TO LND & WAS TOLD AGAIN THE RVR WAS 1400'. WHEN THE ACFT WAS ON FINAL APCH, THE PLTS WERE ADZD OF A LOW ALT ALERT. HOWEVER, THE ACFT CONTD BLO THE DECISION HEIGHT (DH), HIT A 70' PWR LINE (APRX 6500' SHORT OF THE RWY) & CRASHED. NO PREIMPACT MALFUNCTION OF THE ACFT OR ITS SYSTEMS WAS FND. THE ILS WAS FLT CHECKED, BUT ONLY A MINOR DISCREPANCY (CONCERNING THE OUTER MARKER WIDTH) WAS NOTED. THE DH WAS 200' AGL, MIN RVR FOR THE APCH WAS 2400'. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_FTW88MA048.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.